Preserve the product before a theory changes its condition.

The first inventory should record the product's location, custodian, manufacturer, model, serial number, lot, date code, labels, warnings, packaging, seller, purchase and service history, ownership, modifications, accessories, connected applications, firmware or software, prior incidents, and condition after the event. Vehicles, medications, medical devices, industrial equipment, consumer goods, and children's products have different identifiers and regulators.

Do not repair, power, download, disassemble, return, discard, clean, test, or surrender the item without a documented plan that accounts for safety and other parties' rights. Patient or public safety may require urgent action. Preservation should record what changed, who participated, what protocol was used, and where resulting data and samples are held.

Depending on the product, evidence may include drawings, specifications, risk analyses, testing, validation, supplier records, manufacturing and quality data, lot and batch records, change orders, complaints, returns, warranty claims, field reports, recalls, notices, labeling history, regulatory submissions, software versions, service bulletins, maintenance, repairs, sales, distribution, training, and prior incidents. Public recall databases identify leads but may not contain the company's complete history.

Event evidence should show installation, environment, foreseeable use, instructions, operator actions, maintenance, wear, alteration, misuse allegations, warnings received, energy or forces, fire or chemical conditions, data logs, response, and the medical path to death. A design engineer, manufacturing expert, warnings specialist, human-factors expert, toxicologist, physician, pathologist, or other discipline may address only part of that chain.

A design theory asks about reasonable alternatives and risk-utility evidence under current law. A manufacturing theory compares the unit with intended specifications. A warning theory examines the risk, content, audience, communication, learned intermediary where relevant, and whether a different warning would have changed conduct. Installation, maintenance, repair, rental, sale, alteration, misuse, employer conduct, and medical selection or monitoring can create separate role-specific questions.

Federal regulation requires product-specific analysis. Drug and device approval, labeling, change authority, vehicle safety standards, recalls, agency findings, federal contractor issues, and other statutes can affect evidence and express or implied preemption. Compliance or noncompliance does not answer every state-law element, and preemption should not be presumed from the presence of a federal regulator.

The personal representative's authority, beneficial interests, survival claim, medical and funeral expenses, cause-of-death proof, liens, insurance, workers' compensation, and settlement allocation require early review. The product owner and evidence custodian may be a family member, employer, hospital, insurer, police agency, fire marshal, regulator, manufacturer, or salvage company. Authority to inspect and preserve may differ from authority to file the wrongful-death action.

The calendar should address wrongful death, the decedent's underlying product or negligence claim, any statute of repose, sale or useful-life facts, discovery, warranty notice, government or federal actor, tribal forum, workers' compensation, probate appointment, evidence retention, and jurisdiction over out-of-state entities. Recall timing does not necessarily reset or extend a civil period.